The sun bled orange into the pink and purple sky of twilight. There was a blue strip of mountains off in the distance below the dying sun. All around two mutants, the thick pine forest began to darken.
"What we doin' out 'ere again, mate?" A spiky haired Ausy asked the red-eyed Cajun next to him.
"Finding some wild femme de boss be lookin' for," the Cajun spoke, peering into random trees.
"What's so special about this girl anyway?"
"No clue, mon amie. Ask de boss when we get back."
xxXxx
Laying with her bare stomach against the branch of an aspen, the feral woman watched the two males in her territory. It'd been a long time since she had come across "civilized" creatures, human or mutant. She watched intently, knowing they were looking for her. But who was this "boss"?
The two men passed below her branch. She ran her tongue over a set of fangs. 'Let's see what these boys got.'
She leapt to the ground. Landing almost silently a few short yards behind the hunting pair. She followed the mutants to a clearing in the forest. The men continued walking, she stopped on the edge. The woman crept around the edge of the clearing, enjoying the feel of stalking her prey. They would be fun to toy with, a change of pace from the grizzlies. She was so caught up in the thrill of a new challenge that she missed the brittle twig in her pathway. The snap seemed to resonate. All the birds in the area fled in a boisterous mass.
The tall man with a staff halted and put a hand on the spiky haired man's shoulder, stopping him. The spiky haired mutant opened his mouth to question the taller man. The taller man held a gloved finger to his lips, silencing his partner.
The woman crouched low in the brush, her muscles tensing for the nearing on black eyes scanned the forest. The taller man walked to the nearest edge of the clearing, leaving his partner confused where he was standing.
'Must have gone to take a leak, or set me up...' The latter idea amused her. Deciding to see which it really was, and if it was the latter what he was planning, she stood up and walked into the clearing. She walked straight up to the spiky hair man's back and tapped his shoulder.
xxXxx
The Australian whirled around to stare into the mismatched eyes of a dirty faced woman.
"What you doing out 'ere, sheila?" The Ausy relaxed seeing the small framed woman. She looked dirty and worn, the girl couldn't be more than 5'3". Her eyes were a little off-putting though. Her left eye was a silver-grey, like steal. The other eye was a dark green that could rival an emerald. Darkness was creeping in on the forest faster now as the sky bled red. The woman smiled an eerie smile showing off a set of bright fangs that flashed in the fading light. "Oy, don't move," he said recognizing that this must be the target. He make a flame in his hand from a small lighter in his pocket.
The woman let out a low growl in her throat and circled the spiky haired man. He turned in time with her, never taking his eyes off her. The woman and the spiky haired man were so focused on one another that the woman hadn't noticed the tall Cajun man had returned.
The tall man crept up behind the woman. Taking his staff in both hands he flung his arms over her head, pinning her and her arms against his body with his staff. The woman growled and struggled like a rabid dog. The red-eyed man pulled her tighter against his body and with his lips to her ear he said "Calm down, chére" His voice was calm even as he struggled to keep her pinned. The tall man nodded to his partner who pulled out a syringe and stuck the woman's shoulder. After a few more moments of struggling and snarling, her movements calmed and her body slumped against the tall man's body.
"Ya know she wasn't all that tough, she just circled me. Why would the boss want her?" The spiky haired man questioned.
"Ask de boss," the red-eyed man said as he scooped the small woman up into his arms. The two men walked back into the forest the way they came. The spiky haired man kept a ball of fire in his hand to illuminate their path.
As the men neared their ride, the woman stirred in the tall man's arms. Still very drowsy and dazed, she didn't struggle, just tried to gather her thoughts. The woman looked up into the face of the man carrying her. He had a strong jaw line that was dusted with red-brown stubble, matching colored shaggy hair framed his face. His eyes were beautiful in a bizarre way. They were jet black where whites should have been with red pupils that radiated out where the irises were meant to be. Noticing her gaze, he looked down to her face. "No worries, chére. Not'ing is gunna happen to you," his voice was calm and hypnotic, almost lulling her back to sleep. Her eyes fluttered.
"Who are you?" was the only thought she managed to grab hold of and form into words. Her voice was rough, whether from lack of use or from the sedative, the Cajun was unsure.
"Remy LeBeau at your service. Who are you, petit?"
Her head rolled towards his chest, just before drifting off Remy heard her mumble into his shirt, "Shade."
xxXxx
Mind reeling from the drugs still left in her system from the previous night, Shade couldn't catch the random words and pictures racing through her mind. The bright sunlight streamed in through the one large window in the room. It was a decent sized room, about the size of an average bedroom. The walls, doors, floor and ceiling were made of various metals. The metal floor had a large neutral rug covering most of the room. The window was draped in large white curtains. There was a light brown circular table in the corner to the right of the window with a white chair. To her right was a large metal door with a smaller door directly across the room. A large white stuffed chair sat in the corner to the left of the window. Shade was sitting on a small bed laid in white linens on the same wall as the smaller door. 'This place is way to fricken bright!' Shade threw the sheet over her head. 'Wait.. . where am I?"
Minutes of futile attempts at trying to string a though together later, Shade heard the large metal door open followed by footsteps. It was a man, and she recognized the scent but couldn't place it. it was so familiar but she couldn't get her racing thoughts in any order.
She heard an accented man's voice, "Chére? You up?" That voice brought back the previous night. The two men hunting her, talking about a 'boss', them drugging her into a sleep.
Shade leapt out from under the covers at where she heard the man's voice. She clamped her hands onto his shoulders digging in her nails and shoved him into the wall behind him. Her lips turned up in an animalistic snarl, flashing her fangs.
"Listen, petit, I don't want to hurt you," the man said not making a move to free himself. There was that hypnotic voice from last night. She almost relaxed. Almost.
'Time to test this guy out,' Shade thought, throwing a punch towards the man's jaw. He caught her thin wrist in his hand. She threw her other fist towards his stomach, again her wrist was caught in his hand. The man crossed his arms over her head, turned her to pin her back to his front with her arms crossed in front of her body. She kicked her leg up by her head, causing the man to duck away from her foot, giving her enough slack to break loose and jump to the opposite of the room.
Shade eyed him as she growled low in her throat. Leaping to the side of the man she grabbed his arm and whipped it down, flipping the 6'2" man onto his back. She straddled his waist, pinning his arms above his head and adding weight with her ankles on is thighs so he had as minimal movement as she could manage.
The man chuckled. "You were holdin' back last night, mon chére" The man used his hypnotic voice to throw her off guard enough to kick up his legs, throwing her off and sending him to his feet.
She ran and jumped forward onto her hands and kicking her legs up above her to wrap her legs around his neck. Just as she was about to throw her weight so he would go crashing to the ground, the man grabbed her shoulders and pulled her upper body upwards so they were face to face.
Her thoughts had started to clear from the adrenalin pumping through her body. "Who are you? Where am I? What is it you want?" she snarled.
"Remy LeBeau at your service. We covered this last night, Petit." He paused, waiting to see if she would comment. When she didn't, "You are in de home of Magneto. And I want not'ing, chére, it is Magneto that wants somet'ing." He saw Shade visibly relax. Sometimes that hypnotic charm of his came in handy. Remy gently set her down then sat on the edge of her bed. He pat the space beside him. "Sit down, chére." She watched him, still weary. "Come on, chére. I don't bite," he said with a smirk. He watched the indecision on her face until her attention was caught by the sound of the large door opening.
xxXxx
Shade's body stiffened again, quickly snapping out from what spell Remy had managed to throw over her.
In the doorway stood a tall silver haired man holding a metal helmet under his arm. Remy reclined on the bed. This man may be his boss but Remy was obviously not one that liked to take the orders. This new older man held himself in a regal manner.
"Welcome, my dear." Shade eyed him cautiously. "I apologize for the manner in which you were brought here, but you are very hard to get hold of," he intended this as a jest, Shade saw it in his eyes, but she did not respond. "You do talk don't you? What is your name?"
The woman stared at the silver haired man, sizing him up. "De femme's name is Shade," Remy replied with a new cold tone in his voice. Both Shade and the older man looked over at him.
"Thank you, Gambit." He said, clearly displeased that Remy had answered instead of Shade. "Shade, welcome to my home. I am Magneto. I see you have already met Gambit." He gestured to Remy whose arms were crossed over his chest, his head turned to stare out the window. He had an entirely different manner to him around Magneto than with her. "I am sure you will meet more later. I have some questions for you, my dear. " Shade's body tensed anew. "Don't worry, they are harmless questions I assure you. Tell me my dear, how do you feel about humans?"
Shade's reaction was immediate and chilling, her eyes darkened dangerously and her hands clenched into fists. The growl that imitated from her throat was so feral and dripping with venom that Gambit turned to look at her curiously and one of Magneto's eyebrows raised. It was the sort of reaction he had wanted, but he did not know how very wild this woman had become. More animal than human, she would be a fine addition to his team.
Magneto smirked and his eyes lit. "Well then my dear, I only have one more question for you. How would you like to join me in the war against the homo sapiens?"
xxXxx
